Panjab 1947: A heart divided

The National Archives has recorded the narratives of four Panjabi elders uprooted from their homeland during the Partition of British India in 1947. At least 18 million people were uprooted and one million died in the mass migration that followed.

In 2010, Jaswant, Mohammed, Reginald and Tilak Raj met at The National Archives to describe how Partition had shaped their lives. Born into different faith communities in the Panjab, these men are united today by their love of that common homeland, that past shared experience which was precious and which has now been lost.

Their stories tell of the hardship and loss that they endured but also the unexpected acts of kindness and humanity that they witnessed.